Olive Kitteridge

There will, I think, never be a film series that even approaches this film's excellence. It is one of the most uniquely cast and expertly played works of art I will probably ever experience. The performances were staggeringly riveting. Frances McDormand and the rest of her supporting cast were magnificent. I did not want it to end and I surely will not describe the minutiae of it for fear I would give away its essence.

Brava to Frances McDormand acting in and producing a film made for her and Bravo to Richard Jenkins, with whom I fell in love. Three cheers to all the other actors who made this film great.

This series brings the complexities of living to the screen. Life, as Olive says, confounds her and it does me as well. I'll bet most of us in our small worlds can say that too as life does not always live up to one's expectations of it and we are often trapped by those who came into our lives through no fault of our own. There were WONDERFUL performances all around. See it. It is a must.

I've just read some of the negative reviews about Olive Ketteridge. I thought it was obvious what we were getting into in the first 30 minutes of this brilliant mini series. Yes it's a bit downbeat. But Olive Ketteridge is about real people and real situations, and let's face it it reflects certain areas of real life. I think we've all known characters like the ones portrayed in Olive Ketteridge. All the performances are spot on. Plus there are many areas of Olive Ketteridge that made this viewer smile. So I don't see the negativity. Maybe the negative reviews come from people who wanted to see a Deloris Claybourne or a True Detctive. Olive Ketteridge is about love, loss and what ifs, and that's about it.. But it's told so well that one almost forgets that the story's so simple.

Never comfortable to watch, this gem as a story and as a vehicle for incredible performances is not to be missed. The story can be summarized in a very brief exchange between Olive and her husband Henry. The latter, a sucker for greeting cards it seems, buys Olive a simple little card that says "For My Wife". Inside the message is "Simply to say I love you" and his initial as a signature. It's Fathers Day, but he has purchased his wife some flowers and this card. He hands her the card and says "I love you." She reads it and replies "Yes, you do", handing him back both the card and the flowers with dirty garden-stained hands.

This is a dark, dismal, dreary narrative with extreme moments of touching emotion and fleeting happiness. Life for all of the characters in this story is a constant succession of negativity and hopelessness. And Olive is The Queen of the Depressed. Townspeople, too, are for the most part, cantankerous: Henry's initial store clerk; Olive's friend, Bonnie; the high school secretary; a customer standing in line at a pharmacy. Someone peed in all of their cereal. And it is the pathetic,somebody's-gotta-play-the-clown Henry who recommends to a Valium-addicted schizophrenic customer that she buy brighter light bulbs to fend off depression.

The performances are so intricate and under-played. How can playing a depressed person be intricate? Watch Frances McDormand's depiction of Olive. It's a must for any actor, and sheer joy for an audience member. And the supporting cast's performances are no less exemplary. Richard Jenkins as Henry provides phenomenal contrast. He really is the "yang" to Olive's "yin". And it is precisely this complementary distribution in their philosophies of life (as characters) and performances (as actors) that makes this truly one of the most amazing films. However, it is frequently extremely uncomfortable to watch because of the level of negativity we are compelled to watch. There are two scenes (one on a seaside cliff and the other at a piano bar) that are positively creepy but so perfect for the character who is envisioning them, another inhabitant of this Village of the Damned. Are there any happy people in this town? No. Henry and maybe one or two other characters try to cheer things up, but one feels as if they are doomed in their attempts to shed light on the rest.

This drama is sadly sympathetic, and no less pathetic a depiction of a jaundiced relationship than George and Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" The latter is certainly more bombastic than this film, which makes "Olive Kitteridge" even sadder as it is reflected in these lives of quiet desperation.

These are award-winning performances, script, and film. Don't miss it.

Family dysfunction reigns supreme in this oft-uncomfortable psycho-drama set in bucolic Maine over the course of 25 recent years. Nice, gentle, middle-aged pharmacist and sensitive, caring man married to a hard=edged, stern and very often mean schoolteacher who knows she is sick and "a beast" but cannot change her hurtful and often hateful ways, even to her own son who is obviously more like his dad, a nice boy scarred forever by his mother's mean words and insensitive nature. Depression "runs" in her family, she said, and it is easy to spot throughout in her as she suffers progressively from it as the story develops.

Frances McDormand shines bright in her demanding role as the hard-as-nails wife and mother who finds it so hard to show love or even "like" to her family, and she is always more than ready with a scathing snipe no matter the occasion or person, even at their son's wedding. Richard Jenkins is also very impressive as her good guy husband who is always nice, friendly and comforting to those around him who need it most. His Yin to her Yang, totally.

Coastal Massachusetts scenery subbing for Maine is stunning and beautifully shot. The script, though excellent and always engrossing, is often discomforting to watch, as there is little levity in it and things often get very serious and mean-spirited. No everyman crowd-pleaser this one, but it is very intelligently done and packs a hard and lasting, dysfunctional family/mental health punch for viewers expecting more from premium channel TV than silly laughs and chuckles from junk programming. Not many laughs here, just quality storytelling you will not easily forget.

This is an extra-ordinary piece of television. Where so many mini-series are constantly driven by a thread that drives it forward with momentum, this doesn't have that same urgency, which allows it to explore its themes in a way I don't think many TV series or mini-series have done. It's so wonderfully crafted, in all aspects. But really, it's the writing and performances where its true power soars. The acting is magnificent, McDormand might've just outdone her work in Fargo. A truly soulful, aching, incredibly heartfelt performance. We see Olive and her various flaws, and yet we can't help but sympathize with her and like her despite everything she does. The mark of a true revelation. Kind of hard to describe in words, but the acclaim is justified.